Vuforia Engine 8.0 is Available!

A new year ushers in new opportunity and growth. Vuforia Engine is no exception in 2019 and is proud to offer the community one of its most innovative releases to date, one that will open dynamic possibilities for Augmented Reality. Vuforia Engine 8.0 will deliver the following functionality and enhancements:

Model Targets with Deep Learning

Recognize multiple objects, from multiple angles, instantly

Model Target Generator enhancements

VISLAM for markerless AR

External Camera for iOS

Model Targets is one of Vuforia Engine’s most powerful features, allowing developers to use objects as targets for their AR applications. From toys to industrial machinery, users can line up a detailed guide view of an object from a single angle to start an AR experience. Based on the success of this technology, the Vuforia engineering team wanted to offer even more versatility for application development.

Vuforia Engine 8.0 now provides the option to train Model Targets through deep learning for instant, automatic object recognition. This intelligence enables developers to use multiple models in a single application scene, switching between each experience seamlessly, and to have those models be recognized from multiple angles. An end user would need to simply start the application, point the device camera at a car, and Vuforia Engine would recognize the vehicle and provide the user with a guide view matching the angle they’re seeing. From automobile service instructions to luxury car marketing details, our new technology offers countless possibilities. To make the deep learning process go smoothly, the Vuforia Model Target Generator will provide an automated default viewing range for preferred recognition angles.

The ability to reach the broadest audience with your application is important, and Vuforia Engine wants to make that even easier. VISLAM (Visual-Inertial Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) provides more robust markerless AR experiences on devices that don’t offer this technology natively. This upgrade makes development simple by allowing users to create one application logic that works on all platforms.

For a more detailed look at each of our new updates please review our release notes. If you have questions about this release or other Vuforia Engine features, feel free to post on our community forums.

Thank you, and Happy New Year!

The Vuforia Engine Team

Sep 26, 2018

Vuforia Engine 7.5 is Available!

Vuforia Engine offers advanced computer vision and a wide range of functionality to help power some of the most innovative AR applications. As the expectations for AR grows, so does the demand on the technology. We strive to provide our customers and the developer community not only with new ways to create AR experiences, but also to improve on the features we have now. That’s why the Vuforia Engine team is excited to announce our feature focused 7.5 release!

Introduction of our new feature: External Camera

Support for ARCore 1.4

Enhanced tracking for Model Targets

Increased ability to detect small targets

Support for DragonBoard™ 410c

External Camera provides a new perspective on what’s possible with Augmented Reality. It allows Vuforia Engine to access external video sources beyond the camera equipped in phones and tablets. By using an independent camera, developers can create an AR experience that offers a first-person view from toys, robots or industrial tools. We can’t wait to see what unique and innovative ways the Vuforia Engine community uses this new technology!

Always looking to improve, we made several updates to our current features. Small target detection has now been enhanced, supporting even more use cases, near and far, when recognizing VuMarks and Image Targets. When using Model Targets, lighting, reflections, and other surface conditions can cause problems with recognition. Our Enhanced edge tracking improves the ability to lock on to objects to provide a more accurate, reliable experience. We’ve also updated the Model Target Generator to provide feedback on the target viability, helping streamline the development process.

We pride ourselves on having the largest breadth of device and OS support. In our effort to continue offering the best cross-platform experience through Vuforia Fusion, we’ve added support for ARCore 1.4 devices and iOS 12.

If you’re ready to explore Vuforia Engine 7.5, download and start creating today in leading 3D development platforms like Unity!

For a more detailed look at each of our new updates, please review our release notes.

If you’re interested in trying out our new technology that has yet to be released, check out the Vuforia Innovator Program! VIP is designed for professional AR developers looking to get early access to the latest innovations along with direct support from Vuforia Engine experts.

Thank you,

The Vuforia Engine Team

July 02, 2018

Vuforia News

The range of products that PTC offers under the Vuforia brand is expanding. In addition to Vuforia Engine, the industry leading AR SDK for the last 8 years, we’ve added Vuforia Chalk and Vuforia Studio to the family.

Vuforia Engine continues to power the broadest set of devices with the best AR experiences. In our latest release, Vuforia Engine 7.2, Vuforia Fusion now includes Google’s ARCore. We’ll continue to expand the list of Vuforia Supported Devices.

Take more advantage of Vuforia Fusion through our improved Positional Device Tracker in 7.2 for all Target types. Image Targets will take advantage of ARCore and ARKit if available on the device. Check out our in-depth migration guide!

Also for the first time, developers can put content into their Environment on handheld UWP (Universal Windows Platform) devices using Ground Plane.

Thanks to community feedback, 7.2 has numerous improvements to robustness and stability. Vuforia Engine developers have tighter control over what technology they can leverage within their applications.

We can’t wait to see what you build with ARCore in Vuforia Engine 7.2! Don’t forget to share it and tag #PoweredByVuforia!.

News from LiveWorx

The topic of AR is taking center stage at LiveWorx 18 in keynotes, as well as special sessions in which many customers, partners, developers, and industry analysts are discussing the use cases and benefits derived from the adoption of Vuforia.

To better meet the increasing demand of the rapidly changing augmented reality market, PTC is bringing together all of its AR technologies under the Vuforia brand:

Annotations Come to Life with Commercial Availability of Chalk for Industrial Use Cases

The service use case for augmented reality gets even more powerful with the commercial release of Vuforia Chalk, a powerful remote assistance app that empowers people to solve technical challenges faster by providing frontline technicians the instructions and guidance they need quickly. Chalk combines advanced augmented reality technology with real-time video to connect a field technician with an expert so that the expert can see the situation in the field. Chalk’s advanced computer vision technology uniquely enables users to draw digital annotations that accurately ‘stick’ to physical objects, allowing the expert to guide the technician through a process, step-by-step. Even as a technician moves, a Chalk annotation will stay anchored to its original location.

Commercial availability of Vuforia Chalk for iOS and Android devices begins today, with a free 30-day evaluation available at chalk.vuforia.com.

May 04, 2018

AWE 2018

Location: Santa Clara, California

Date: May 30 - June 1, 2018

Join PTC and Vuforia at AWE 2018 where you will hear inspirational keynotes, attend compelling break-out sessions and learn more about our award-winning technology in booth #202.

AWE (Augmented World Expo) is the world’s largest conference and expo connecting professionals who are passionate about bringing superpowers to the people via technologies like Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed Reality (MR), Virtual Reality(VR), Smart Eyewear and Wearable Computing, as well as gesture, sensor, and tracking devices. Now in its 9th year, AWE is again assembling the top innovators — from the hottest startups to Fortune 500 companies — to showcase the best AR and VR experiences in all aspects of life and work; including arts and entertainment, social interaction and brand engagement, enterprise and industry, architecture and design, education and training, healthcare, government and commerce.

March 27, 2018

Vuforia Updates

Vuforia 7.1 drops today and it includes a number of quality of life improvements based on community feedback. We have streamlined how Vuforia loads in Unity – Vuforia will only automatically initialize on scenes with Vuforia components. We have also introduced automatic database loading and activation, Ground Plane stages can now either be cloned or deployed once and Unity developers should expect to see more frequent updates to the Vuforia Engine independent of Unity Releases. These are just a few of the changes we are including in Vuforia 7.1 – be sure to check out the release notes for the full list.

Since the release of Vuforia 7 in December of last year, Vuforia has been committed to calibrating more and more devices in an effort to reach the broadest range possible. In Vuforia 7.2, we will be expanding that list to include Universal Windows Platform devices such as the Surface Pro 4 and the Surface Book. We will also be adding Vuforia Fusion support for ARCore. That means features like Ground Plane will benefit from improved tracking performance on ARCore supported devices. Furthermore, we will be expanding the use of Vuforia Fusion to improve extended tracking capabilities across other Vuforia features. Finally, we will be adding native support for HoloLens.

Later this year we’ll release an update to Model Targets that includes advanced recognition capabilities so that you can put digital content on multiple objects at once. This technology is available to VIP subscribers now via an Early Access Program. You can join the VIP program here.

The entire team at Vuforia is extremely excited for all the technology we’re building this year and we cannot wait to see the amazing games, toys and applications that our community builds on top of Vuforia 7.1 and beyond!

Thank you!

The Vuforia Team

December 19, 2017

Vuforia 7 is Available!

Vuforia 7 is our biggest, and most powerful release ever. It includes brand new capabilities for putting your content in the world, and ensures that your apps deliver the best possible AR experience on a wide range of devices. Check out these features:

Vuforia Model Targets recognize objects by shape, in contrast to existing methods that rely on detailed visual designs typically found on print media, product packaging and many consumer goods. Model Targets are perfect for attaching digital content to industrial equipment, automobiles or home appliances.

Vuforia Ground Plane enables digital content to be placed on the ground, floor, or tabletop, providing an ideal solution for you to build visualization apps, ranging from in-home furniture shopping to AR design reviews. Ground Plane will support a wide range of devices starting with ARKit enabled iOS devices – and extending to the broadest range of popular Android and iOS devices.

Vuforia Fusion, is a new capability designed to solve the problem of fragmentation in AR enabling technologies such as cameras, sensors, chipsets, and software frameworks like ARKit. With Vuforia Fusion, your application will automatically provide the best experience possible with no extra work required on your end.

November 09, 2017

Get started with Vuzix M300

The Vuzix M300 is a personal display and wearable computing device that enables users to improve existing workflows and opens new opportunities in industrial, medical, retail, supply chain and remote help desk uses.